The untold story of why I don’t use concealer anymore

It’s just not always necessary — less is more

Published in

FashionabLee

9 min readApr 14, 2020

Yeah, that’s right. Side note, I’ve started writing this, struggled to truly get a point across, left it here on my screen for a while, and struggled some more with my complex concealer problem. Now I’m here again, sitting on my couch self-isolating during this crazy pandemic, figuring, WHY NOT? Let’s dive back in — now with more insight.

TLDR; The change in my skincare routine ultimately dictates my use of under eye concealer.

Is it TOO much moisture?

It started up about 5 months ago. I started to notice that the skin under my eyes was red, and a little puffy. I didn’t think too much of it being that summer had just ended. In my mind, it was just some sunburn (I’m still on a hunt for a natural sunscreen). If you read my recent blogpost, you’ll see I was testing the waters a bit and tried to just use jojoba oil as not only my moisturizer, but sunscreen as well! Cover two birds with one product, err if you will? I was quite pleased with how well the jojoba oil worked! I got a beautiful tan (better than any other year before) and didn’t suffer from much sunburn at all. I did alternate sitting in the shade and being out in the sun. How does this tie into my eye situation? Well, I did use the jojoba oil quite a bit all over my body as well as under my eyes. In my mind, I had to protect the very delicate skin under my eye area.

This became a daily ritual throughout the summer. The jojoba oil felt good, and BONUS it was a natural moisturizer with no harmful chemical ingredients, my eyes would LOVE IT. I became diligent with application of a moisturizer under my eyes. So much so, that in the morning, I would make sure to take my day time moisturizer “squalane” from Deciem’s The Ordinary, all the way up under my eyes as well. My eyes were glistening from all of the moisture.

I thought I was doing everything right. I used to NEVER moisturize, now I’m throwing moisture all over the place. I’m moisturizing like it’s going out of style (it’s never going out of style). My under eye skin that was red, scaly, peeling, and itchy from time to time! WHAT? Skin, I do nothing but love you. I buy you expensive things, clean you with lovely cleansers, and now I’m moisturizing better than ever. What gives?! Well, my conclusion at this point — TOO MUCH MOISTURE. Do I know this for sure? No, of course not. My stress level could also cause weird skin flare ups, as it has done before.

Story time: I was dealing with a lot of personal stress that, looking back now, I feel, could have definitely contributed to the skin irritation. I made a big decision that had been weighing on me for a view months. Since making said decision, I am doing so much better mentally. It was the first step in trying to get this flare up under control. CONTROL THE STRESS! Stress can manifest in the strangest ways!

Let’s talk Concealer

I wanted to dig deeper into my skin problem. The skin under my eyes basically rivaled that of shriveled up raisin, and I needed to make it better. I decided to go out on a limb and really take a look at the concealers I used. Concealer is a product I always applied a lot, so I should spend time researching a bit more. Up until March 2019, I have been using Maybelline “Instant Age Rewind” concealer. It is truly a lovely concealer in all aspects — blends beautifully, great coverage, doesn’t crease, etc. I hated parting with it. Why did I? I learned that there were dreaded parabens in the ingredient list. With all of the research with parabens not being wonderful ingredients for you, I wanted to try and do without them. I really wish that Maybelline would work toward eliminating such ingredients from their makeup, like hello? Come on, It’s 2020, and we want clean beauty. Parabens are a BIG no no, and you can read why in my other article here. Alas, I could find another concealer, right? This wouldn’t be hard…

Stay tuned…

During the summer, I wasn't wearing much makeup. If I needed a little coverage, I’d slap some powder foundation from Bare Minerals (best powder foundation) or the Tinted Hydrating Gel cream from Bare Minerals with the mineral veil setting powder. Concealer didn’t become a concern for me until about August. In prep for the fall/winter where I go back to being quite the pale b!tch, I decided it was time to get down to business.

Imagine my immense discomfort strolling into Ulta yet again (3rd time in a month). Ulta — the amusement park of beauty products, a place that usually gives me pure joy only to now give me anxiety. Here I am to try the next “concealer of the week”. Pretty sure I know the store like the back of my hand by now. I could probably work there, but hey, I was desperate to find it…the under-eye cover up product to solve all of my problems. With each trial only leading to more error, I was feeling defeated.

I tested out a few contenders including: Bareskin serum concealer from the brand I know and love, Bare Minerals; Bye bye undereye from IT Cosmetics, Bio-correct multi action concealer from W3ll People, and Nars radiant creamy concealer.

I heard good things about the BM Bareskin serum concealer, and was very eager to try it out. Being that Bare Minerals is a brand I stand by, I thought the serum concealer would work wonderfully, and all would be right in the concealer world. Sadly, this was not the case. The serum desires to provide wonderful coverage, and it’s promising. It spreads lovely, but blending is a nightmare because of the loose consistency. It would also settle into fine lines, so with my maturing skin, this was a big NO NO. Truly broken-hearted because my OCD a$$ wanted all of my beauty products to be from the same brand, damnit.

IT Cosmetics. Oh, how I wanted for IT to be “it”, but it was SO not “it”. Try saying that line five times fast. I heard RAVE reviews about this product. People really like it. How do I describe my experience with this concealer, oh right, it SUCKED — oof harsh. Now granted, it was pretty good at first, like most things. Unfortunately, my skin ended up HATING this. I don’t truly know the reason why, BUT after doing some personal research, I feel that it could have something to do with the retinyl palmitate that is an ingredient in this product. The ingredient is a form of vitamin A, and according to the article “The Problem with Vitamin A”: “Vitamin A is an antioxidant added to skin products because manufacturers believe it slows skin aging.” This doesn’t sound like such a bad thing right? It became concerning when I did some research and found that according to EWG Skin Deep, it receives a score of “6–9” with concerns such as: “Produces excess reactive oxygen species that can interfere with cellular signaling, cause mutations, lead to cell death and may be implicated in cardiovascular disease.” It is also known to have some links to tumor formation, and is also unsafe for use in cosmetics in Canada, according to this article.

Ya know, links to cancer, heart disease, restricted use for cosmetics in certain locations…those are enough red flags for me! 🚩🚩 The last red flag being the huge flare up my delicate skin experienced after using this product a few times. I gave it about a week before it was back to Ulta to return this product.

W3ll People is a new brand to me that I’m still learning more about. I really enjoy that it is a brand dedicated to clean beauty, and was ready to have it join my makeup arsenal. I also have a lipstick and eyeliner from this brand which I ABSOLUTELY ADORE. I purchased the concealer conveniently, online at Ulta. Unfortunately, it’s such a small amount for the price! You get 0.25oz for $22.99. I haven’t used the product enough to know if the price makes sense (i.e. I don’t know if the product really lasts a long time, because I didn’t have it long enough). The concealer did not provide the right amount of coverage and was actually a little too drying for my skin type. I’m not sure if I would write it off completely. People love it, as per reviews on Ulta’s website. Being that it has ingredients such as “robust cocktail of organic algae, coffee, pomegranate and anti-aging peptides” as mentioned on the brand’s website, I feel like I would possibly give it a shot in the future.

This last one really threw me through a loop. I heard wonderful things about Nars’ radiant creamy concealer. I heard how it is comparable to Maybelline’s “FIT me” concealer (to me this wasn’t convincing, because quite frankly, that concealer didn’t “fit me” if ya know what I’m saying). I was a little skeptical, but I was also desperate, because I JUST WANTED A STINKIN’ CONCEALER like all the other cool kids. So, there I was, back at Ulta, to peruse around yet again and pick out a color that worked best. I went with creme brulee, how fancy shmancy.

I have, err, mixed feelings back this concealer.😩 It is creamy with nice coverage, however, it does dry quickly. Not a deal breaker, but you have to be careful not to waste time applying, or you could pull the skin around your eyes! I do recommend warming it between your fingertips and tapping to blend the product in with them. This may be the number one way for me, but honestly, I’ve also used it with a brush and even a damp make up sponge. It really just depends on my skin — it calls the shots, ya know? So far, this product is my number one out of all that I’ve tried. I don’t have any skin irritation from it, and I like the coverage.

So spill the tea, sis! The ingredient list isn’t one that would live up to the same “clean beauty standards” as brands such as W3ll People. Nars does claim on their website for this concealer to be for all skin types, dermatologist tested, non comedogenic…and free of alcohols, parabens, or fragrance. This does give me some comfort, but I don’t worry too much because I also realize, I rarely use this product. I actually enjoy it more to color correct certain pesky blemishes or acne scars that I’d like gone. My next point would be the price point which is $30. I’m just really tired of dropping a lot of money on makeup — the less I have to buy, the better.

Please enjoy these interesting (and terrifying) transformation photos. Notice the caption for dates and more info:

Here is a shot from 2018 before I actively started taking care of my skin. Look at how textured my skin looks. It’s so uneven. It doesn’t look healthy.

It became clear to me over time, that I spent so much time looking for a concealer for the skin under my eyes, but I realized, adding more makeup just wasn’t making them look better. Anyone else feel that way? Of course, so much could come into play with this concept — Maybe I was applying it incorrectly. Maybe I wasn’t “setting” the concealer properly. While those are important aspects to consider, I just became focused on taking care of my skin more. I looked into many under eye treatment products making sure the ingredients were safe and wouldn’t cause further irritation (👀 Def will have a blog post on this in the near future) I became overly happy with just applying powder foundation and taking a little extra under my eyes. It was fun to learn how much less is actually so much more and finally embracing it. Getting a little more sleep each night would prob work wonders as well, but that’s for another blogpost at another time…and probably in another lifetime. LOL!